The Lifestyle is better in Albany

April 8, 2010

by Candice Varetoni

Albany, NY- Students may have a difficult time choosing a college when they are in their junior or senior year of high school. Some students change their minds when they realize that where they are is not where they belong.

Neil Ingenito, Michelle Fancher and Jory Nierenberg are all students who decided to make this change and are able to compare multiple campuses, academic approaches and lifestyles.

Neil Ingenito is in his first year at Hudson Valley Community College. He lives on Ontario Street in the Pine Hills area. Ingenito transferred here from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.

He left Colorado and headed to Albany because the tuition at Colorado State was already expensive and was rising noticeably. CSU’s tuition for non-residential students two years ago was about $20,000 and has now increased to $23,000. A 15% increase in CSU’s tuition was enough to make Inegneito consider other options.

Class size was another problem for Ingenito while he was attending Colorado State.

“Classes in Colorado were like 200 to 250 students in a lecture hall. There really wasn’t any one-on-one time to spend with the teachers and ask questions,” said Ingenito. “Now that I’m at Hudson Valley the classes are smaller, there’s more personal time with the teachers. It’s easier to learn, it’s a better atmosphere.”

Still, he misses all the outdoor activities that were available in Colorado. Ingenito said, “Colorado was more of a suburban setting not so much of a city, as in Albany and Troy.” Here is Albany the atmosphere is less scenic, which makes it more difficult to find outdoor activities, he said.

Spring is here, though, and no Ingenito can enjoy some of Albany and Troy’s outdoor activities.

Albany offers events such as the Albany Tulip Festival, LobsterPalooza and Alive at Five.

“It was nice to transfer over to Hudson Valley because all my classes transferred over,” said Ingenito. “So I can graduate with an associate’s degree with just going there two semesters.”

Another transfer student who lives in the Pine Hills area is Michelle Fancher. This junior transferred to Sager College after two years at Hudson Valley as part of a joint physical education program.

After switching colleges Fancher continued to stay in her house on Partridge Street because of the active neighborhood. “I love the busyness of this place, there’s always stuff to do,” she said.

Living in the same house while attending either college made the transformation simpler for Fancher. Neither school was better than the other, both had activities to offer.

“I lived in the same house both with Hudson Valley and Sage so not much changed,” she said. “There were always things going on at Hudson Valley and there are things always going on at Sage. I keep busy.”

Just a few blocks away, lives nother transfer student. Jory Nierenberg was a student at Rockland Community College before he transferred to the University at Albany.

Nierenberg enjoyed living in Rockland in the beginning but it quickly changed. “Rockland for me was good until I started to feel like it was a thirteenth grade,” he said. “Rockland was almost too laid back, Albany is much more difficult.”

Nierenberg adjusted easily to the transfer because most of his friends were already up here. He lives on the corner of Morris Street with many of his good friends.

The configuration of the neighborhood makes it easier for Nierenberg to get around here than at his old school.

“I have more of a life in Albany, I didn’t go out at all in Rockland,” he said. “Now I go all over, everything is walk able and much more safe.” -30-